Strs Ohio Increases Stock Position in Halliburton Company $HAL

Key Points

• STRS Ohio boosted its stake in Halliburton by 1,947.3% in Q4, acquiring an additional 399,204 shares to hold 419,704 shares valued at about $11,861,000.
• Halliburton beat the quarter's estimates with EPS of $0.55 vs. $0.50 expected and revenue of $5.40 billion vs. $5.37 billion, though revenue was down 0.3% year-over-year and analysts project ~2.32 EPS for the year.
• Insiders sold roughly 202,140 shares (~$7.94M) last quarter, while several analysts raised price targets and the stock holds a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with an average target of $41.09.

Strs Ohio boosted its holdings in Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL - Free Report) by 1,947.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 419,704 shares of the oilfield services company's stock after acquiring an additional 399,204 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio's holdings in Halliburton were worth $11,861,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of HAL. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new position in Halliburton in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Halliburton during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors own 85.23% of the company's stock.

Halliburton Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of HAL stock opened at $42.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The company has a market cap of $35.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.08, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.73. Halliburton Company has a 1 year low of $19.22 and a 1 year high of $42.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.14.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The oilfield services company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Halliburton had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 6.95%.The company had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Halliburton's quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Halliburton Company will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Halliburton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. Halliburton's payout ratio is presently 37.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Halliburton from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Halliburton from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Halliburton in a report on Friday, April 10th. Argus raised their price target on Halliburton from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Halliburton from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Halliburton has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $41.09.

Insider Activity at Halliburton

In related news, VP Timothy Mckeon sold 8,655 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $363,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 72,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,064,992. This represents a 10.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jeffrey Shannon Slocum sold 5,441 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.82, for a total transaction of $184,014.62. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 187,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,338,645.86. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 202,140 shares of company stock worth $7,936,927 in the last quarter. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Halliburton

Halliburton is one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the energy industry, offering a broad portfolio that supports the lifecycle of oil and gas reservoirs from exploration and drilling through production and abandonment. Founded in 1919 by Erle P. Halliburton as an oil-well cementing company, the firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has developed into an integrated oilfield services company serving upstream operators globally.

The company's activities encompass drilling and evaluation, well construction and completion, production enhancement and well intervention.

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